When we talk about hygiene, we generally think about physical health, the conditions of our body, the neatness that all parts must have for us to look and feel healthy, at ease with ourselves; but we rarely mention the mental hygiene that we must have day by day to achieve that so necessary balance that helps us to find happiness.
In this sense, we should compare the physical cleaning we do every day when we take a bath, taking out of our body the dirt we get from the same environment, which is deposited on our skin, our hair, armpits, intimate parts, etc. with the mind cleaning that we should do when bathing our minds with soap of positivism, rinse of optimism, deodorant of self-esteem, and perfume of attitude, which will allow us to throw away all that mind waste that overwhelms us.
In this sense, the metaphor of mind waste is applied to all that bagasse of ideas, beliefs and thoughts that are constantly repeated to make us beings without mind hygiene, maybe very clean on the outside, but dirty on the inside. So we must begin by clearing our mind to have a fuller life.
We can achieve this, of course, if we start from the premise that we are beings of light, beings of love, beings with an immense capacity in our mind since, according to scientific research, we use only 10% of our brain.
In this context, it is convenient to point out that the term “mental hygiene” represents a concept that is commonly used to refer to the set of habits and ways through which we achieve that our mind is in harmony with the environment where we live and therefore with the people with whom we interact, communicate and relate, starting with our relatives, friends, colleagues and members of the community, among others.
In this way, mental hygiene is not achieved only with an organically “healthy” brain, but when the set of beliefs, thoughts, ideas and feelings that we have and that are generally located in the context of the mind whose physical structure is the brain, finds harmony between what we think, say and do, and in some cases, it is enough that saying and doing do not present distortion, since sometimes, for example, we can think something about someone, but to say it worsens a certain situation, so we decided not to say what we think.
Although it could be interpreted that the thought does not fit with words and actions, in those cases it is a necessary and positive decision not to say what we think. However, we must try to make our thinking fit our words and actions to be able to mesh well the necessary pieces that provide peace and mental hygiene. It’s something like throwing away the garbage that makes our home smelly and does not allow us to feel comfortable, or like emptying the recycling bin of the hard drive to speed up our computer and thus new information can enter.
In this way, we could better relate to our peers, become happier, more creative and effective with high self-esteem, an adequate self-concept and an open and flexible way of looking at life where there is no emotional stagnation or a system of limiting beliefs that take our health away, considering that health is achieved not only with good physical conditions, but also with mind and emotional conditions.
In this context, it is convenient to remember that The World Mental Health Day, held on October 10 of each year, aims to promote awareness among the population about the incidence of mental health problems, their causes and their effects.
Likewise, the fact of prevention is highlighted as a starting point to avoid states of depression that generally appear as alterations that can become chronic and directly affect the quality of life and the appearance of somatic diseases, such as cancer, conditions and cardiovascular accidents, obesity and Alzheimer’s disease among others; as well as greater ills at psychic level such as schizophrenia.
With regard to schizophrenia, we want to highlight the statements of Ismael Cala, famous television presenter, who was a figure of the CNN News Channel in the United States, in which he admitted that his father suffered from this disease and that he was only 15 years old when he had to live the painful experiences of visiting him in a psychiatric hospital after having received electroshocks.
The presenter tells with regret how, being 43 years old, he has had to speak in public about his family history, which also includes his grandfather and his aunt who committed suicide, so the biggest fear he has faced is the possibility of losing the control of his mind because from the age of 15 he was asking God to provide him with a healthy brain so that he would not have to face the sad situation which his grandfather, aunt and father went through.
In this context, the importance of maintaining a healthy mind, of throwing mental waste away frequently, if necessary every day, should be rescued so as not to accumulate negative burdens that damage our coexistence, our relationships and in general, our lives. Therefore, our thoughts and feelings are crucial when creating a biochemical reaction in the brain, which sends chemical signals to the rest of the body in order to reverse the negative effects on our mental, emotional and physical health, considering that the body is also affected by somatising this type of harmful vibrations and energies.
This is how should be considered the fact that once a thought has been created, a set of physical reactions are carried out that allow the brain to align with the rest of the body, so a feedback is produced that takes place thanks to the body-mind connection where the neurotransmitters found in the brain play a fundamental role.
In this context, the main neurotransmitters in our brain are the following: Acetylcholine (ACH), dopamine (DA), enquifalines and endorphins, amino-gamma butyric acid (GABA), norepinephrine (NE) and serotonin (5-HT), which are indispensable molecules to carry out the functions of the entire organism. So, for example, serotonin and dopamine are two neurotransmitters that our brain stimulates when we feel happiness, joy or euphoria, for which we must try to live experiences that produce these feelings and attitudes.
But, in the same way that positive sensations occur, negative reactions of the organism can be generated, so that negative thoughts and feelings, such as anger, anguish, depression, anxiety, excessive fear, phobias, etc., can generate physical pain or discomfort that limit or affect our state of mental, emotional and physical health.
In this sense, there are many effects of negative thoughts in our body, and each one is responsible for giving the connotation or negative or positive meaning to them, to those moments, situations, relationships or circumstances that are lived daily, so it is in your hands, rather, in your mind, the decision to discard the negative and think positively, so that more rewarding moods will appear in your days that will fill your being and your health body in the whole meaning of the word.
Many times, the physical discomfort we feel derives from emotional stress, traumas and negative thoughts that, in addition to not contributing anything good, make us waste our energy. There are different therapies aimed at relating physical pain to some type of emotional pain, with the aim of healing both physically and emotionally.
According to these therapies, to feel chronic pain in the neck could be indicating that we have difficulty seeing from different perspectives, or perhaps a rigid and limited vision. They even come to remind us that we have not forgiven past situations that block harmony and peace.
For example, the pain in the back is usually related to painful experiences that we do not want to see, avoiding the confrontation of the problems that afflict us or that we have too many responsibilities that we do not know or do not want to delegate for different reasons. If you also have constant headaches, this could indicate that you are repressing thoughts or feelings that you do not want to or cannot express because of fear of reprisal or hurting someone.
Also, we must start from the fact that mental hygiene is not something we get by ourselves because the same starts from the achievement of psychological well-being and quality of life based on the premise that we are bio-psycho-social beings, so we depend on two things: what we choose to do and everything that is present in the environment where we live and that conditions us in some way.
In short, mental hygiene consists of an emotional and cognitive balance between our expectations and what happens to us in the here and now. Therefore, it is very applicable when talking about quality of life in a holistic way.
Hence, there are some keys to achieve mental hygiene starting from determining aspects such as the questioning of our own expectations without the influence of factors such as advertising and comparisons with other people, plus we must get rid of impossible things that only take our energies away.
Likewise, we must choose and take good care of our relationships, nurturing friendship with those people who bring positive elements to our lives. On the other hand, we must prioritize our basic needs, practice resilience, which is the ability to face crisis situations that can put our happiness at risk, such as the death of a friend or a layoff.
Finally, it is essential to set specific goals with the ability to synthesize to avoid the realization of activities or actions that only take time away from us and causes us stress, paying full attention during the process of achieving the objectives and goals and giving ourselves rest, relaxation and recreation periods to harmonize our lives and provide us with health.
ALFA